GARDEN CITY, N.Y. (Nov. 18, 2023) – Powered by the go-ahead basket from junior Kayla Halvorsen (Dobbs Ferry, N.Y./Dobbs Ferry) with 18 seconds left and a game-high 24 points from graduate student Katie Wall (Wappingers Falls, N.Y./Roy C. Ketcham), the Mercy University women's basketball team overcame a five-point deficit with 31 seconds left to earn a 68-66 win at Adelphi University on Saturday afternoon at the Center for Recreation and Sport.
The Mavericks (4-0) start 4-0 for the first time since 1975 and defeat the Panthers (1-3) for the first time since 2009.
Halvorsen had 12 points on 5-of-7 shooting with four steals and Wall had 24 points on 6-of-11 shooting from the floor and 10-of-11 shooting from the foul line with five steals. Junior Jaclyn Stanavich (Amsterdam, N.Y./Amsterdam) had 10 points and 10 rebounds and sophomore Angelina Barrera (Gloucester City, N.J./Gloucester Catholic) had six points and a game-high and career-high 13 rebounds. Senior Maria Tedesco (Ocean Township, N.J./St. Rose) added eight points and six rebounds and freshman Molly Boek (Saugerties, N.Y./Saugerties) netted a career-high four points.
Adelphi was led by Jenna Jordan who had a team-high 23 points.
The Panthers scored the first four points of the game and later held a 7-4 lead with 6:21 left in the opening quarter. The Mavericks followed with a 6-0 run, finished off by two Wall free throws, to take a 10-7 lead with 3:31 on the clock. Adelphi scored the next four points to take an 11-10 lead before a Stanavich jumper gave Mercy a 12-11 lead at the end of the first quarter.
Mercy opened the second quarter on an 11-3 run to take their largest lead of the game, 23-14, after a Wall jumper with 7:22 left in the half. The Panthers countered with six consecutive points to make it 23-20 before the Mavericks went on a 6-2 spurt to build the lead back to seven, 29-22, after a Wall jumper with 3:33 remaining in the half. Adelphi closed the half on an 8-2 run to cut Mercy's lead to one, 31-30, at halftime.
The Mavericks scored the first six points of the third quarter to take a 37-30 lead after a Tedesco jumper with 7:27 on the clock. A Tedesco jumper at the 5:31 mark once again gave Mercy a seven-point lead, 39-32. The Panthers rallied with a 10-0 run to take a 42-39 lead with 3:46 remaining in the quarter after a Rolanda Robinson three. Adelphi later held a 45-42 lead before the Mavericks ensued with a 10-2 run, capped off by two Tedesco free throws, to take the lead back at 52-47 with 14 seconds left. A Jordan jumper right before the buzzer cut Mercy's lead to three, 52-49, at the end of three quarters.
A Stanavich jumper at the 9:38 mark of the fourth quarter gave Mercy a 54-49 lead. The Panthers stormed back on an 11-1 run to take a 60-55 lead with 3:33 remaining. An Amani Abuhatab (West Haven, Conn./West Haven) layup made it 60-57 before Jordan answered with a layup of her own to give Adelphi a 62-57 lead with 2:59 on the clock. Halvorsen and Jordan later traded jumpers to make it 64-59 with 1:20 left in the game. Wall drained a pair of free throws with 1:13 left to make it 64-61 before Jordan made another layup on the other end to give Adelphi a 66-61 lead with 31 seconds remaining. A Stanavich jumper cut the Panthers lead to three, 66-63, with 25 seconds on the clock. Wall came up with a steal and was fouled, connecting on both free throws to make it 66-65 with 23 seconds left. Following an Adelphi timeout, Halvorsen came up with a steal on the inbounds pass and connected on the layup to put the Mavericks ahead 67-66 with 18 seconds left. After a Panthers timeout, Wall came up with a steal after Adelphi missed their initial shot attempt and went 1-of-2 from the line to give Mercy a 68-66 lead with 10 seconds left. Kaitlyn O'Connell had a open look for three with time running out but could not get it to fall and Jordan got the offensive rebound on a jump ball with less than a second to play. Adelphi could not get a shot off on the ensuing inbounds play and Mercy came away with the come-from-behind road win.
Mercy shot 48.9 percent (22-of-45) from the floor, 60.0 percent (3-of-5) from downtown and 91.3 percent (21-of-23) from the foul line. Adelphi shot 36.5 percent (23-of-63) from the field, 30.0 percent (6-of-20) from beyond the arc and 70.0 percent (14-of-20) from the charity stripe. Mercy held a 38-27 edge on the glass.
Head Coach Scott Lagas and the Mavericks resume action on Tuesday, November 21st when they host Bridgeport for their home opener at 5 p.m.
